The 36th Ironman World Championship Triathlon to take place in Hawaii on Oct 10
21.09.2015
Wanda Group held a press conference at the headquarters of Wanda Group on September 21, announcing that the 36th Ironman World Championship triathlon will take place in Kona, Hawaii, US on October 10, local time.
Reporters from mainstream media including Sina Sports, Tencent Sports, Beijing Times and Beijing News attended the meetings.
This is the first high-level international Ironman World Championship triathlon to be held since Wanda Group acquires World Triathlon Corp (WTC), US.
The event organization is now smoothly underway. About 2,000 Ironman triathlon athletes from dozens of countries around the globe will gather in Kona, Hawaii to compete and challenge the limits of endurance. Hu Chunxi, 27, and Li Pengcheng, 24, will become the first mainland Chinese participants to appear at an Ironman World Championship Triathlon.
Triathlon is called the pearl on the extreme-sports crown. It contains swimming, cycling, and running. It involves long-distance and is very difficult. It challenges both the physical and psychological limits of the participants, and is the most stimulative, challenging and attractive limit sports.
The Ironman World Championship triathlon is the highest-level and longest-distance match among today's Ironman triathlon international matches. It contains 3.8 km open water swimming, 180 km road cycling and 42.159 km full marathon. The sports strength of "Ironman" is nearly four times the "standard iron" (the standard Olympic distance). So it is called super Ironman match. Only participants who complete the entire 225.195 km match can be awarded the "Ironman" title.
WTC holds "Ironman"-level triathlon substation matches in dozens of countries around the globe annually. Only participants who win high rankings in substation matches can eventually compete in the Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.
Located in Hawaii and as the place where the top-level Ironman triathlon is held, Kona has the most challenging tracks in all the Ironman triathlon matches. Swimming in a bay, cycling on a volcanic island and taking a marathon running outdoor. Participants need to take multiple challenges including weather, topography, etc.
On August 27 2015, Wanda Group purchased a 100% stake in WTC with US$650 million. This is another major investment of Wanda Group in the sports industry following its investments in Swiss company Infront Sports & Media and Spanish soccer club Atlético Madrid. Wanda's acquisition of WTC enables China to have the property right of a top-level international match for the first time. Wanda Sports also becomes the biggest sports company in the world.
According to the press conference, Ironman triathlon will be promoted across China starting next year. And efforts will be made to push forward with the introduction of various match brands of World Ironman triathlon in China by focusing on major Chinese cities.